The intersection of Sports & Islam

NBA commercial features Muslim wheelchair basketball players

For the upcoming 2015-16 NBA regular season, the league has a new ad campaign titled “This Is Why We Play.” The first in the series of television commercials features a clip of female wheelchair basketball players in Afghanistan, who play in a program organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

According to the NBA’s official YouTube channel, the campaign is “a powerful declaration of purpose” for the new season, combining “electrifying inside-the-arena footage with images pulled from around the world and deep within the NBA archives — showing all the many ways that players, fans, and teams demonstrate their love of the game both on and off the court.”